'It just takes time'

It's been a long time since I have talked about a book I dearly love: Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus. I first read the book back in the 1970s shortly after it was published. I have returned to it many times since. It has so much to say to me. Because it speaks of the letting go and transformational process of caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly, it is perfect for my website, too, of course.

Just yesterday I thought about the efforts of one of the story's lead caterpillars, Stripe. He saw a towering pile of caterpillars and, thinking that was the way to get ahead in life, climbed onto the pile and tried to move his way up to the top. It wasn't a pretty process. He was miserable and didn't really know what, if anything, was at the top anyway. He felt ruthless crawling on other caterpillars to get to the top. Eventually, Stripe follows the lead of Yellow, the other lead caterpillar, who realized she needed to simply let go and become what she was meant to be: a beautiful butterfly. Stripe finally knew he, too, needed to do the same. As the book says of the cocoon process: "It got darker and darker and [Stripe] was afraid. He felt he had to let go of everything...." That, of course, is when his transformation begins.

And, as it says earlier in the book, "... a cocoon is no escape. It's an in-between house where the change takes place. It's a big step since you can never return to caterpillar life. During the change it will seem to you or to anyone who might peek that nothing is happening—but the butterfly is already becoming. It just takes time."

Indeed, transformation takes time. So don't lose hope if you're still in transition and on your way to becoming that beautiful butterfly who can soar! It all begins with letting go.